Word: galways
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...unique feature of Galway's concerts is the introduction he makes before each piece he performs. These are usually humorous bits giving a brief history of the work. Examples include the tale of the Emperor and flute addict Frederick the Great and his teacher Quantz, which introduced the Bach Sonata in E major for Flute and Basso Continuo, (BWV 1035) and the dangerous nature of dancing in the baroque period, which introduced Couperin's La Pie'montoise. According to Galway, one wrong movement of the finger could cause a person to literally lose his or her head. These comic lectures...
...first piece was a light and airy G Major Sonata by Bach (BWV 1039) for two flutes and basso continuo, including all the players except for Huggett and with Jeanne Galway on the golden flute that is a trademark of her husband. The playing was excellent all around, with the Galways flawlessly performing a passage that requires technical perfection if it is to be successful, creating an elegant echo effect. Cunningham and Moll were solid backup players, neither too loud and intrusive nor too quiet and listless. Except for a few fluffy notes on one of the flutes...
...Galway returned to the stage for Couperin's La Pie'montoise, a sonata and suite in fourteen parts, many of them dances. The piece showed the greatest range in terms of mood, shifting from cool elegance to pensiveness to a delicacy evoking spring. Especially interesting was the interaction between Huggett and Galway, a look of complicity between them finding its musical expression in a passage filled with repetition, as the two echoed both each other and themselves in repeating the same passages. The applause was warm after the surprisingly sudden ending, with especial kudos for Galway and Huggett...
...last two pieces brought Galway back onto the stage, his brassy, clear sounds bringing the volume back up again after Marais' Suite. The Bach Sonata in E major was purely a Galway showcase, the other players fading in the background for once as he overwhelmed them with his flawless playing. The Telemann Quartet in D Minor, however, brought the whole group on stage for the finale, and all contributed to the success of the performance of that work. Huggett and Jeanne Galway, especially, shone in this work, Huggett's playing so clear and light that she almost sounded like...
...encores were an almost ghostlike reminder of the pleasures of the concert. First was a small technical piece for two flutes in E minor by a composer whose name seems to be Schulz, performed by the Galways. It was a fluttering piece that showed the Galways' ability to twitter adorably on their flutes at nearly the speed of sound. For the last encore--a repetition of one of the movements from the last work--Galway insisted that the audience close its eyes for the final farewell. As the musicians played the work almost inaudibly, the concert seemed to be fading...